Monthly Archives: September 2014

Like most days I don’t tend to have formulated plans aside from the usual work day but as the day fined up after the rains of yesterday I thought it would be nice to have a bit of an evening walk. I figured I would mix that with my love of udon noodle soup and stop off at the Japanese place about 1.5km from my place on the way home from work. Stopped off there on the way home, ordered as normal and was really looking forward to the kara udon soup as my body is back in the phase of making me regret it if I don’t have three meals a day at the moment and I have always loved the taste of it from there.

Queue the arrival of the meal, the guy behind the counter had misheard me and thought I had asked for the kara box meal and not the kara udon and that was brought out and needless to say given that I was looking forward to that particular meal I was rather disappointed and was about to tell them they had made a mistake and request the correct meal when something dawned on me and made me feel ashamed in myself. I went there because I was hungry and needed dinner, I didn’t need a particular meal and that fell into the want category and what was provided was more than adequate to fulfill my hunger needs.

So I thanked him for the meal and sat down and ate it.

It is easy to take a lot of things in life for granted, the fact that I have adequate access to a wide variety of food that is safe to eat and the ability to afford the luxury of eating out and not having to make / plan my own meals when there are so many not only in my own country but all the nations of the world that struggle to fulfill that basic need. What the hell gives me the right to be disappointed that my meal wasn’t quite what I ordered, why should it be thrown out (which it likely would have been as it is made fresh) simply because it wasn’t quite what I wanted, but was more than adequate to meet my dietary needs.

It ended up being a very tasty meal, and certainly silenced my growling stomach which left me feeling content and full, something for which I am grateful for.

Events and plans don’t always go the way we expect, or want them to and whilst we cannot control that how we react and deal with them defines who we are. There are very few things that can ruin your day, unless you choose to allow them the power to do so.

So today was a day for the history books, the referendum in Scotland to decide the future of the northern land and whether Britain was to remain great, and the kingdom united. Now I understand a sense of pride in your country, people, and culture as well as having a sense of identity which can be somewhat diluted by being part of another (hell the head of my own country is still Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the second) but my own personal opinion is this doesn’t change your history or sense of self and the decision to remain in the United Kingdom is a good one.

The human race tends to suffer from “the grass is greener” syndrome, day in and out we are faced with our share of problems and challenges and sometimes it is easier to look at the grass over the fence and declare it is greener and you would much rather be there. But what if the grass is only greener over there because of the excessive use of fertilizer that makes it hazardous to your health and a picnic on the grass leaves you with massive skin irritation. Now whilst your grass may be a funky brown colour it doesn’t have to stay that way, with love, care and attention your own grass can become just as luscious as your neighbors and without the hazards to your health.

Now I admit that I am on the outside looking in, I live in Australia and whilst I have family in that neck of the woods I don’t face the issues or problems and quite likely have quite a different set of desires compared to them however valid the objections and issues may be with tory rule I do not believe that succession and defining your own borders is the right solution, instead work together with your English counterparts to not only improve Scotland but also the wider society as a whole. There have been words thrown around such as dictatorship and oppression however I do not believe the people using them necessarily understand what they mean… If Scotland was truly under Tory dictatorship or oppressed today would not have happened, protests for independence would result in people being arrested, potentially tortured or even executed. The people wanting and talking about an independent Scotland would not be marching the streets, hosting rallies or wearing yes buttons they would be meeting in secret and having their lives ruled by fear of discovery.

In the end it was a very hot issue and close to the hearts of many, I hope that the verdict does not drive people to do stupid things simply because others did not see things the same way as in the end they can be your friends, neighbors but above all else they are still your countrymen. Take it on the chin that people didn’t agree with you, band together to build a better Scotland and a better United Kingdom for yourselves, your children and the generations to come. One of the few times I will probably agree with what a politician had to say, however Julie Bishop said that the world has enough borders and I tend to agree with her. The world as a whole should more come together to fight the issues that the global community faces and further segregation is a step backwards.

In a lot of ways I am a traditionalist, I believe in manners like greeting the people you interact with on a daily basis and thanking people who provide you service yet the people around me often seem so consumed with their own little world, or their phones (hell even I’m guilty of this plenty of times) but never take the time to look up and interact with those around you. In todays modern 21st century world we are privileged to live in the age of information, we have unprecedented levels of access to news, information and knowledge yet the question I keep on coming back to is why do people choose to cling to ideologies, opinions and run with the line that they are fed as long as they are provided their conveniences and a constant stream of “the best thing ever” to consume their daily existence and remove the need to think.

Why bother when you can just click like?

Sometimes when I feel the most powerless and unable to make a difference in the world I remember the times on my daily commute between the workplace and home when somebody I have smiled at, or wished a good day suddenly seemed to have their complete mood change, in some cases from looking down to suddenly smiling themselves. What if a sea of smiling faces can be brought about by the first person that smiles, hell I don’t know if it can happen but I would love to see it, the world needs more smiling faces; And whilst we will always have our challenges, issues and demons a smiling face can often make the world seem brighter.

Although lately some days it is getting harder and harder to see the positive, and that it’s slowly shrinking and fleeting away from me. I have always tried to be an optimistic idealist and whilst it’s something I hope to never lose today’s society makes it harder and harder to hold onto and it has been driving me into a bit of a rut. There are so many things that I have been thinking about lately, and have been wanting to write on as this blog was originally designed for that purpose but I can’t seem to get myself out of the internalization only rut.

I had somewhere I was going with this in my head, but like many thoughts I sometimes have it proved somewhat fleeting, hopefully it returns to visit at some point, if anyone wants to finish it feel free to contribute 😛

“Though each rose may have its thorn, And each dark night yields a dawn. Among these contradictions I walk forlorn.”